Friday, January 04, 2008

who's the villain here?

another new year and another shameful story besmirching mumbai's tag as a 'safe' city for women! two women, who were accompanied by their male partners, are molested by a group of over 70 men for about 15 minutes before a few journalists get help from a police inspector who chases away the mob. the two couples are taken to a police station nearby, but they choose to leave without registering a complaint.

now while the incident is a heinous act and the perpetrators of this should not be spared and all that... i wonder who is the actual villain here?

1. the people in the mob who commit this crime with the secure feeling that they are safe since they are part of a mob. and as recent incidents point out, people really believe that mobs are the best way to party! mobs allow the tiger to be unleashed from the whimpering kitty!

2. or the police, for the amazing faith they manage to inspire in the law-abiding citizens of the country! why do you think the victims of this incident did not want to press charges? and it was the same with the molestation case at the gateway of india last year! in fact the newspapers even claimed that the two couples were asked to go to another police station since the area where the incident took place did not fall under their jurisdiction! i guess registering such cases would not look good as far as the statistics go!

(all the 5 suspects arrested in last year's molestation case were finally let off because of lack of evidence!)

3. or the media! i'm sure the molested couples, already traumatised by their experience, would have been horrified to see their images being splashed across all the newspapers and television channels. and this would have only intensified their suffering and destroyed whatever little hope they had of trying to bury the entire incident as a bad dream!

now some people may defend the media action by saying that the media's job is to report facts and be honest about it and all that. but did anyone even bother to ask the permission of the victims before using their images to publish a sensational story? did any of the journalists pause to think of the mental trauma they would heap upon the unsuspecting victims?

so who is the true villain here? you decide!

11 comments:

Shruti said...

Delhi is the city women dread. But incidents of molestation, reported or unreported, are not uncommon in our Mumbai either! And about who the villian is.. well.. the mob :( Animals!

Zoher Doctor said...

Hi,
Its good thought given to the issue. However knowing the culture, administrative / Juridtion and Political system of our land, one should think twice before going out in public on the occasion like this. I believe first its the individual duty to protect ourselves and our family. I believe the villain is the people themselves and then comes the mob, police and media....
What say..

Anonymous said...

umm...

who isnt the true villain?

- our media. so concerned. a reporter from a popular tabloid helped 'nab' one of the offenders. that afternoon daily feels very good about doing this.. why? cuz they're trying to bring justice to those very victims, (this ofcourse compensates for this >>> )whose images were splashed across THEIR front pages, first printed properly, and then.. blurred the next day. yes. im touched by their concern.

-Celebrities. i cant imagine why the media would print or loop their comments in Newspapers, or on news channels.. especially when popular celebrities say amazingly daft things like.. "chop their hands off" .. or "strip their clothes off and make them parade in the streets" uhh yeah.. if they're caught. mob of 70. will come to the police station and surrender.

-people sitting at home.
"they should not venture out so late" (yes. i'm sure they came down from abroad to get married and spend new years sitting at home.)

"they should wear decent clothes"
(the women were decently clad. but.. just a random thought. when did women being fully clad ever stop men from doing what they've wanted to do?)

-Police.. i get that they can do a better job.. but its unfair to blame them every time something like this happens, and not keep in mind that it's important to praise them when they do their job well. (hardly 5% of the people actually do that. to criticize the police force, 90% will be up in arms.. and 5% will choose to keep quiet.)
also, we of course have lakhs and lakhs of people in the force. so many people, that we can station someone at every junction / corner / area.

and then we have our meadiapersons, who ask our opinions. "is mumbai safe?"
yeah. it is. i love the fact that i could just be stepping out of a building, decently dressed, to be surrounded by a group of men. DEPRIVED men. DRUNK DEPRIVED men. and..lots of them.

yeah. i feel safe. mumbai's a safe place to be in.. considering it doesnt have to be New years, holi or any special day.. perverts, get their f***cking feed everyday.

i ask you.
who ISNT the true villain?

Guruprasad said...

shruti : i agree that the mobs are culprits. but the mobs are made up of individual like you and i. maybe the problem lies in education, sensitising people right from childhood, and the fear of the law.

zoher : i can understand your point of view. but why should any individual or a family fear going out and celebrating when hundreds of others are also celebrating? why can't we have a society where something as basic as this can be done without worrying about getting molested by a mob?

annonymous - i completely agree with your view that all are villains including we ourselves!
and that we can't always blame the police everytime.
but i also believe that there is still hope. hope for mumbai and hope for our people. (what worries me is the cost we will have to pay till the time we get to the point where a lady can walk fearlessly in any city in india without worrying about being feed for the perverts!)

Rukma Abhijit said...

the true villain is each one of us. Who makes up a mob: individuals like you and I. Who is the police: individuals like you and I.Who is the media: Individuals like you and I.Who are the victims: Individuals like you and I.

At the end of the day the onus rests on each one of us. So what have we done, besides reading and writing blogs, to make things better?

I agree with Guruprasad..our education system definitely lacks. We only become literate, with hardly any education. But there again..who's hte villain? The Governemnt? The educational institutions? Parents? Teachers?....Individuals like you and I.

As it's said 'You become the change you want to see around you'. You change and the world will change.

Anonymous said...

Media becomes the major villain.Photographers had enough time to take pictures but no time to catch the culprits.Basically Bhoga Vrutti
of today makes the difference.ART of LIVING boyh by man and woman has
to be studied carefully by all.The unwomanly behaviour of woman makes
a man behave unmanly.LAW cannot take control of all the situations.
Educating Human in spiritual studies is very important.Dharma-Artha-
Kama-Moksha,have to be in the educational stream right from secondary
school.Primary education has to be in mother tongue with sanskrit as one subject.This has to be followed all over the nation.English has tobe introduced in secodary education.It is not at all difficult to follow three languages in that age.Things have to change if GITA is
understood in student-age by all.Media can do a lot in improving society.But when Media itself competes in unhealthy way,things cannot
improve.It is going to be worse in times to come.
With best regards,
Damodar B.

Preeti Shenoy said...

I agree with you here completely.
Bachi Karkaria had written about it beautifully in yesterday's Times.It was interesting to read her perspective.Media is a doule edged sword.On one hand it goads you into doing something about the issue--on another it sensationalises to sell more papers and get higher TRPs.

Guruprasad said...

@eagle : so true! you have to be the change that you want to see in the world around you.

@damodar : i agree that a lot of this is driven by unhealthy competition. but i think there is still hope. we have to be the hope for the next generation.

@ ps : i am not even sure the media wants to goad us in a positive way. most of the time they seem to be whipping the wrong kind of passions and tempers!

MG said...

Guru, the only one bent egde of the quadrangle of this story, common to all the stories that followed in the media (at least) thereafter... the role played by the Police. I know it sounds hackneyed and oft-repeated everywhere but it is the blatant truth. The main vehicle of justice delivery mechanism to the common junta is -- the police -- who is actualy burning both the ends of the candle (us) at the same time.

On the one end, the police is not efficient (deliberately so ??) in controlling such public misdemeanor and incite no fear in these miscreants in restraining themselves. On the other hand, the police themselves restrain the victims from filing complaints and taking a legal course of action by a painting the grim picture of public scandal in front of the victims (undesirable media exposure etc) as if they (the police) were going to be helpless yet again. The victim is thus left to fend for herself -- no support from the police and no mercy from the media.

When the vital link between the public and the judiciary is weak, what recourse is one to take ??? and is it sustainable ???...

Guruprasad said...

@ manasi :

i think it still boils down to people and education. education will sensitise the future generation against such behavior. and education will also sensitise the future police force to deal with such situations in a more humane fashion.

don't you think so?

MG said...

Guru, indeed we need sensitising through education on so many issues in our country but all that the media does is desensitisation through demonization and repeatition.

Yes, education has given us the power to achieve everything and at the same time has added to the divide between the haves and have-nots.

Yes, my fearless parents did a good job in raising me so i can raise my voice and feel no less because i am girl. It will be tough to shirk from my duty to teach the same to my daughter.